


Cresmont Nights

by syazzypanda



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: M/M, Set in S3 when Charlie was working at the Cresmont, We were r o b b e d
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24948412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syazzypanda/pseuds/syazzypanda
Summary: Charlie is working a solo shift when Alex comes in. Maybe there are some perks to working alone, even if his brain seems to be short-circuiting.
Relationships: Charlie St. George/Alex Standall
Comments: 33
Kudos: 119





	Cresmont Nights

**Author's Note:**

> I've been toying with this idea for a few days now, but then I saw this lovely gifset and just had to write it before I forget. This would have been a nice subplot for S3.
> 
> https://cmssmith.tumblr.com/post/621918980644519936/charlie-has-a-crush-on-alex-but-when-he-meets-him
> 
> I had intended this as part of my 'if you had to pick a dude' series, so you can expect a brief appearance by Luke and Diego. Thank you so much for reading!

Charlie was, and this is without exaggeration,  absolutely  terrified of Jessica.

It wasn’t hard to understand why. The girl operated on a zero nonsense policy, and try as he might she never seemed impressed with his work. Granted, he’s only doing what he’s  been hired  to do.  It can  be argued  that there was no room for her to  be impressed  with how he served drinks or scraped gum from the seats, but some encouragement wouldn’t have hurt.

One upside was that she had given him a pass to do his school work there on slow days. Another upside was that he finally got the chance to talk to Alex Standall.

Charlie knew a grand total of four things about the other boy: 1.  He was a suicide survivor (He had learnt this from Monty in the locker room in passing, but didn’t hear much beyond that as Zach had told him to “Shut the fuck up”), 2  He was friends with Tyler Down, who for some reason always seemed to hang around the Crestmont on Jessica’s shift, 3. He dated Jessica, which led to 4. He had to have nerves of steel.

He was friendly enough to Charlie. As the days passed, Charlie  inexplicably  found himself looking forward to his visits.  Whenever he showed up at the Cresmont  however  Jessica would, without fail, send him away for some menial task. There always seemed to be some form of tension in their interactions.  Frankly, it seemed exhausting.

It had been exactly three weeks since Charlie had started working there, and so far the only conversation they had was when Jessica had introduced him as an afterthought before sending him away.  He wondered if he should feel offended by her dismissals, but instead he settled on a simpler explanation: whatever it was the strange,  occasionally  miss-matched group had going on, it  simply  didn’t include him.

He was fine with that. For the most part. It was the part of him, and he couldn’t understand that part as much as he tried, that wanted Alex to talk to him that  was let  down.

Diego and Luke had  sporadically  come by and would each time attempt to wrangle him into sneaking them extra snacks before watching their movie. Each time, without fail, Jessica had loomed  menacingly  over his shoulder.

It was terrifying enough to keep Charlie from trying any funny business.

(Alex had been here the last time Diego and Luke showed up. He left soon after though.  Charlie suspected it was because Luke had grabbed the other boy by the shoulder and for some perplexing, mortifying reason, pointed straight at Charlie with a proclamation of “Have you met Charlie?”

Charlie didn’t understand why both Diego and Luke looked as disappointed as he did when Alex left as  quickly  as his cane would allow him, Tyler trailing behind.)

He was running his shift solo tonight.  Jessica had warned him that this would happen, and while Charlie had assured her that he could handle the floor by himself she still didn’t seem to trust him. That hurt more than her dismissals.

Other than a few couples, it had been a quiet shift so far. Tuesday nights were always like this. Tyler wasn’t around either, although that wasn’t surprising since Jessica wasn’t there. It almost seemed as if they seemed to hang out on a tight, systematic schedule. Weird.

It was because of this that he  was surprised  when Alex Standall appeared, cane in hand.

“Hey Alex!” Was he too loud? It sounded too loud. He took a breath, “Jessica isn’t working tonight.”

“Hey, Charlie. I know.”  Alex offered him a small grin, and Charlie wondered if the fluttering in his stomach was from something he had eaten earlier in the day. “I come here a lot but never seem to watch anything. So what better way to spend a Tuesday night alone, right?”

Charlie almost expected Jessica to materialise from thin air and drag him away. When that didn’t happen, he replied, “Yeah.”  He wanted to ask how he could be alone because given the opportunity Charlie would  happily  offer to spend time with him, so instead he said, “Don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to give you some extra popcorn. And a large soda. What soda do you want?”

“Uh, I wasn’t going to get any popcorn. But thanks anyway,” Alex said, leaning forwards against the counter.

“What?”  Charlie’s gaze snapped back towards him, appalled, “Popcorn is an integral part of the movie watching experience. How can you come to a movie theatre and not get popcorn?”

Alex rolled his eyes, and for some reason that stung more than anything Jessica had ever done, “Wasn’t expecting to get judged about that of all things, but if you feel so  strongly  about it then sure I’ll get some damn popcorn .”

“It’s on the house.”  This time Charlie definitely could imagine Jessica rearing in through the entrance, ready to yell at him. “Or well, I’ll pay for it.”

Alex was staring at him, eyes narrowed in confusion, “You don’t have to do that.”

“Okay, fine. But will you at least let me give you extra popcorn? And a drink?”

The other boy shrugged, seeming to decide that this was a conversation he was ready to yield, “Sure. I’ll take that.”

“Awesome,” Charlie grinned.  He turned around and proceeded to fill their biggest popcorn box to the brim, aware that Alex was staring at him with those gorgeous blue eyes that reminded Charlie too much of the afternoon sky- _what the hell pull yourself together St George._

He passed Alex the popcorn and swept an arm towards the soda machine, “And what drink do you want from our fine establishment this evening?”

The corners of Alex’s lips had pulled upwards,  slightly, “Just  a coke, thanks.”

“Coming right up, sir.” Charlie pressed the button and this time his eyes fell to Alex’s cane, leaning against the counter. “... Did you bedazzle your cane?”

Alex glanced at it, despite already knowing what Charlie was referring to, “Oh, that.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, Jess thought it would add a splash of colour to it. I forgot to take it off.”

“I think  it looks nice,” Charlie offered, placing the drink in front of him. “It’s on the house.  Please,” he added, seeing that Alex was going to argue, “Business is  really  slow, and I’m going to have to dump whatever’s left at the end of the night anyway. I’d rather you have it.  Just  don’t tell Jessica.”

Alex seemed to contemplate for a moment, before shrugging and popping some popcorn into his mouth, “So if I finish all that popcorn in the machine, you’re gonna have to make more for me?”

“That’s the Cresmont protocol, yes.” Charlie nodded, just barely holding himself back from saying that he would do more than that if it meant getting Alex to talk to hi- _holy shit what the hell is wrong with you St. George._

Alex smiled, “You  just  unlocked an infinite popcorn cheat in real life for me, thanks Charlie. Not sure how I’m going to eat  all of  this by myself.”

“I’d eat them with you,” the words were out of his mouth before they  fully  registered in his brain.  “I m-mean,” he stuttered, stomach churning and yeah, he’s pretty sure the tacos he had for lunch were causing it, “If I wasn’t working, and you weren’t going to watch a movie. I’d watch the movie with you, but you know, I’m working.”

“Can’t imagine Jessica would be too happy with that.” Alex didn’t seem too perplexed, though he might have  just  been hiding it for Charlie’s benefit. He glanced at his watch, “Speaking about that movie I’d  probably  get going, think the trailers are over by now.”

He tucked the popcorn into the crook of his arm and grabbed his drink, but then seemed to stall, “Uh, we can watch a movie together sometime, if you want ?”

Charlie just barely missed knocking over a stack of cups, “Sure!” Now that was definitely too loud. “Sounds fun. If you don’t mind. They’re playing some Christopher Nolan movies next week, if you want to. Watch something, I mean.” Why did his brain and mouth short circuit tonight of all nights?

Alex shrugged and offered him a grin that made Charlie think of sunflowers and warm spring days and taking chances. “Great, you’re buying your own popcorn.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! I know Charlie is super confident, but I wanted to play around with an adorable teenager with a crush that he couldn't really understand just yet. 
> 
> I really appreciate all the kudos and comments. This fandom is so lovely.


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